Mirror, Mirror
by Follow Those Owls
Summary: It was supposed to be one night at a hotel, but an evil mirror image is among the manor's strange inhabitants. The gang will never be the same after this tale from a plane beyond our own...the Twilight Zone.
1. Prologue

**Many months ago (July) I promised this story to a group of readers. Then I got sidetracked and wrote three other stories instead. Then, the other day, I finished one of those stories. Then I asked another group of readers if they would prefer this story or a different one, and this one won! So here it is…finally. This was inspired by two things: ****_The Twilight Zone, _****which is a great show, and a story called The Twilight Ed by Scary Spikender. That is a literally AMAZING story that is genuinely scary… I don't think I slept at all the night I read it! So now I'll try my hand at writing a horror, in the style of The Twilight Zone…this should be good.**

**Let's see what the gang is like after crossing over into….the Twilight zone **

* * *

_This door is unlocked by the imagination, inside it is another dimension._

_A land of sight, sound, and mind…._

_…Of things and ideas._

_A world beyond our own._

_You've just stumbled into…._

_The Twilight zone._

_*television static*_

* * *

"I don't like this hotel, guys…" Tori said, glancing around the lobby as the gang walked in. Tori had always had somewhat of a sixth sense. It was like she could sense trouble brewing.

"One time my brother was staying at a hotel, but he harassed the room service lady, and now he isn't allowed to stay at that hotel anymore!" Cat said brightly. Cat, unlike Tori, was entirely naïve when it came to things like danger and trouble. It could walk up to her wearing a name tag and introduce itself – she'd never know it until it practically smacked her in the face.

The Black Pine Manor was at least 200 years old and hadn't been remodeled much since it was opened. The lobby had strange paintings, of peculiar looking people and there seemed to be cobwebs in every corner. In contrast, the young lady at the desk, who looked to be about 20, was dressed modernly and obviously bored, playing a game on a green pear-phone. It made sense that she would be bored, there wasn't a single other person in the lobby, and there seemed to be no other guests. She looked up, hearing Tori's voice, and her face lit up.

"Guests?" she asked excitedly.

"Are there any rooms available?" Beck asked her, walking up to the desk. She nodded quickly.

"I think there are like, 7 other people staying here, total," she said, pulling out some papers.

"Guys, are we sure we want to stay here?" Robbie asked, looking around nervously. The girl's face fell. Robbie didn't have an innocent deposition when it came to possible danger; he was simply skittish.

YES, Robbie. I like it here," Jade said, staring at a particularly disturbing painting. On the contrary, Jade loved danger and macabre things.

"But-" Robbie started again, but Andre cut him off.

"Come on. It's almost midnight and it's pouring rain," Andre said. Robbie sighed, and went to stand next to Cat, who seemed a little uneasy about the place herself. She'd glanced around at the strange paintings and bizarre décor and had started to get wind of the fact that this place was _odd._

The 6 were on a road trip to celebrate spring break, and were traveling in the direction of their first stop, the National Scissor Museum in Utah. It was Jade's idea to go there. Cat wanted to go to Dylan's Candy Bar, which would be their last stop, it being in New York. Tori and Andre wanted to visit the Music Hall of Fame, Robbie wanted to see the world's biggest ball of twine, and Beck wanted to go to the Men's Hairstyling Emporium in Pennsylvania.

"Here's your room key, room 268. I hope you enjoy your stay at the Black Pine Manor," the girl smiled, showcasing a small gap in between her 2 front teeth, explaining the slight whistle in her voice. Even she seemed a tad creepy, with her very pale skin, blue-violet eyes, and whistle-ly voice

"Guys, let's go. Jade! Stop staring at the paintings, we're going to our room now!" Tori called. Jade walked over grudgingly.

"I'm coming over here because I want to, not because Vega told me to." Stubborness what another peronslaity trait of Jade's.

"Where's the elevator?" Andre asked.

"There isn't one. Just stairs," the girl at the desk said, pointing to the stair case.

Before anyone could groan about the lack of elevators, a man in a business suit came down the stairs, a sour expression on his face, a large stain on the front of his jacket. He looked at the teenagers before jabbing a finger at Cat.

"YOU!" he growled. Everyone stared at him, confused. "That young lady grabbed my water bottle, and dumped it on me!"

"No, she didn't!" Robbie said.

"Sir, Cat has been with us this whole time. We just checked in," Tori added.

"I _know _she did it. There less than ten people here and you could never miss that fire-engine red hair," the man argued.

"It's actually red-velvet cupcake red," Cat said.

"Whatever! You can argue all you want, she did it!" the man yelled, pushing past them.

"That was…strange," Beck said.

It was about to get a lot stranger.


	2. The Mystery Begins

**Hello, friends! I apologize for the extended wait for chapter 2, but here it is! It's dedicated to the majestic reviewers: Red Velvet is love, Jeremy Shane, and what do u need me 4!**

**(By the way, this is based off the 1960's Twilight Zone, NOT the 80's one!)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

_This door is unlocked by the imagination, inside is another dimension._

_A land of sight, sound, and mind…_

_…Of things and ideas._

_A world beyond our own._

_You've just stumbled into…_

_The Twilight zone. _

_*television static*_

* * *

"That guy was really weird! He waddles when he walks!" Cat marveled as the fuming man stormed away.

"I'm sure there's just another redhead staying here. We can ask the lady at the desk," Beck said sensibly.

"Excuse me? Miss? Is there another redheaded girl staying at this hotel?" Tori asked.

The girl glanced up. "No. You guys are the only people under the age of 50 staying here, anyway." She grinned at them. Once again, the girl's whistle-ly voice and Cheshire cat grin seemed to add to the eeriness of the situation.

The group turned around to look at Cat.

"I didn't pour water on that guy, I swear!" she squeaked.

"Think about it, guys. Cat was with us the whole time," Robbie said.

"Let's just forget about it," Tori said, uneasy.

They agreed and headed up to the room, which was on the fourth floor. The stairs creaked and it echoed.

"We're only staying here one night, right?" Robbie asked.

"Stop being a baby, I like it here," Jade said.

The hallway at the top was empty, and lit with chandeliers. The one at the end of the hallway flickered.

"Are you sure there are other people here?" Andre asked.

"The girl said there was, and there's that guy," Beck answered.

As if on cue, the sound of someone running upstairs could be heard overhead. Instead of being comforting, it echoed and made the hallway seem even creepier.

"I guess there's at least _one _other person here," Tori said.

They stopped in front of a door, with "268" on it in gold, metal letters. Or at least, it had _once _said 268, but now the 6 was gone and the mere outline of it was there.

They opened the door, and had to admit the suite was nice. It was well-lit, had a large, connected kitchen and living room, with 2 bedrooms.

Cat giggled and ran into one of the bedrooms. "I like this one!" she yelled.

"Fine, we'll take that one, and you guys can have the other one," Jade said, and she and Tori followed Cat into the bedroom. The guys went into the other one. It was nearly midnight, after all, and they just decided to get to bed. They only needed to stay here for one night…

Cat insisted they leave a light on. There were no windows in the bedroom, and when the lights were turned off, it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

"C'mon guys, we have to get to bed, _somebody _has to be awake tomorrow to drive, and I can't drive," Tori said.

Jade snickered. "_TORI COULDN'T PASS HER DRIVERS TEST, TORI COULDN'T PASS HER DRIVERS TEST, TORI COULDN'T PASS HER – _"

"Jade! Shut up!"

"I'm shutting up because I want to."

For several hours, they slept in peace, although the teens kept waking up because of the person or people staying upstairs. They ran up and down the hallway above the room all night. Jade ended up turning off the lamp after Cat fell asleep, insisting she could only sleep in total darkness.

Tori woke up at about 3 AM, when the person upstairs was particularity loud. She considered going downstairs to complain at the front desk, but she didn't feel like going down 4 flights of stairs. She decided to go get a drink of water instead. She fumbled around in the darkness, trying not to disturb Cat and Jade.

To her surprise, Cat was sitting on the living room couch, facing away from Tori, obviously engulfed in doing something that Tori couldn't see.

"Cat?"

Cat didn't turn around.

Tori walked around to see what Cat was doing.

She was _cutting up a shirt._

_Jade's _shirt.

"Cat! What are you doing?!" Tori whisper-shouted, flabbergasted.

Cat dropped the scissors and shirt, stood up, and raced down the hall into the boys' room.

"Cat! Come back here!" Tori yelled, abandoning her attempt to keep quiet as to not wake the others. Suddenly, a light flicked on in the girls' room.

"Vega! _What_ are you doing?" Jade demanded, appearing in the doorway.

"It's Cat! I came in here and she was cutting up a shirt, and then she ran into the guys' room!"

"What are you talking about? Cat's right here!" Jade said, and Cat walked up behind her, rubbing her eyes and clutching her stuffed giraffe, Mr. Longneck. She wasn't wearing the same pajamas as she had when cutting up the shirt.

"How is this even…" Tori question, officially freaked out.

"Just go check in the guys' room," Jade said.

They walked into the boys' and flicked on the light. The boys groaned and woke up.

"What are you doing?" Beck asked.

Tori explained what she'd seen and how it was strange that Cat had been in the girls' bedroom the whole time.

"I think you're seeing things again, like with Ponnie," Andre said.

"I am _not,_ and Ponnie _was_ real, and I'll prove it," Tori said.

They followed her into the sitting room. Sure enough, in front of the couch lay the scissors and ruined shirt.

"Those are my special scissors!" Jade exclaimed, snatching them up. "Only Cat knows I even have them."

"But it couldn't have been Cat; she was in the bedroom…" Robbie said.

The running upstairs, which had quieted down for a short while, resumed.

"Who cares about the shirt, I don't even like it, but I am doing something about _that,_" Jade said, stomping out of the room. The gang followed her.

"Where are you going?" Beck asked

"To complain at the front desk."

Once they arrived in the lobby, they were surprised to see it was not empty, but there was a lady at the front desk. She resembled the first, with the same snow-white skin and purplish eyes, but was older.

"Excuse me? Are you working the front desk?" Robbie asked.

Jade elbowed him. "Of course she is, she's there, isn't she?

Tori cocked her head. "Are you related to the girl who was at the front desk a few hours ago?"

"Yes, that was my little sister, Blythe. Now, how may I help you?" the lady said. Her voice didn't whistle like Blythe's did.

"There's somebody on the floor above who keep running up and down the hallway, and they've been doing it all night," Jade complained.

"Which floor are you staying on? I can contact the people staying above you and find out what's going on," the lady said helpfully.

"The fourth floor."

The woman's eyes widened and she dropped her pen.

"You're on the fourth floor?"

"Yes…"

"…There's no one above. You're on the top floor."


	3. Leroy, Blythe, and Lydia

**Hello sweets! I really, really like writing this story! I've done mysteries, but this is my time trying my hand at horror – the creepy stuff. And according to the reviews, I'm doing well so far! Speaking of reviews, this chapter is dedicated to Jeremy Shane, PerfectlyImperfectGirl, you-make-me-go-asdfghjkl, and what do u need me 4 for the reviews! You're so sweet!**

**MASS DISCLAIMER (for the rest of the story): I own nothing.**

* * *

_This door is unlocked by the imagination, inside it is another dimension. _

_A land of sight, sound, and mind…_

_…Of things and ideas._

_A world beyond our own._

_You've just stumbled into…_

_The Twilight zone._

_*television static*_

* * *

The gang gawked at the young woman.

"T-there _has _to someone above us! We've been hearing someone up there all night!" Tori stammered.

"All that's up there is the roof. Only people in my family have the key to get through the door to get up there. This is a family-owned hotel; we actually live on the fourth floor. I think Blythe put you up there because – no offense – she thought a bunch of teenagers on spring break would be pretty loud, and there's a bunch of senior citizens staying here," she answered, and then mumbled something about how Blythe, being only 19, isn't exactly grown-up herself.

"Well, are your parents here? Maybe it's them!" Beck suggested.

The lady shook her head. "My parents are away on their 30th wedding anniversary vacation. I guess it could've been Blythe…hold on, let me get her," she said, before darting up the staircase.

"This is place is really, really creepy, guys. First Tori says she saw Cat cut up a shirt, and it obviously wasn't Cat, and now this…" Andre said.

"It _wasn't_ me!" a voice echoed down the stairwell. The lady and Blythe had returned.

"Well, who else would it be?" the lady asked.

"I don't know, Lydia! I bet it was that old guy who thinks it's still 1983!" Blythe argued.

Lydia rolled her eyes at her younger sister. "He doesn't have a key."

"I bet he picked the locks!"

"He's like, 90 years old! He can barely make it up to the second floor to his room, let alone the roof!"

"STILL HERE!" Jade exclaimed.

The feuding sisters glanced over at the teens, as if just remembering that they were there.

"Don't you have any other family members here?" Robbie asked.

Blythe's face lit up. "Leroy! It's Leroy!"

"C'mon, Blythe, he's only ten!"

"Who's Leroy?" Tori asked.

"Our little brother," Blythe said, and then turned to Lydia. "Think about it, Lyd! Who else could it be?"

Lydia sighed. "Fine, go get him."

Blythe ran up a flight of stairs, stopped at the landing, and yelled, "LEROY HERMANN! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE, NOW!"

Cat burst out laughing. "She said butt!"

"Blythe! There are sleeping people who you're waking up!" Lydia said, appalled.

As soon as she said that, the voice of an old man boomed down the stairwell. "Young lady! I'm tryin' to sleep up here!"

There was silence for a moment, and then Blythe yelled again, "LEROY! _GET. DOWN. HERE. NOW!"_

The sound of a door creaking could be heard distantly.

"What?" asked a new voice.

Blythe appeared once again in the lobby, now dragging a young boy by the wrist. He was short and skinny, with shaggy brown hair that almost fell into his eyes, but not quite.

"Awww, you're so cute! Like a little puppy!" Cat squealed. Leroy flashed her a grin.

And he was – in a strange way. He didn't resemble his sisters, but he seemed to fit in perfectly with the atypical décor. It was unnerving.

"Why have you been running around the roof in the middle of the night?" Lydia asked.

Leroy cocked his head. "I haven't."

"The gig is up, Leroy. We know it was you," Blythe said.

Leroy stomped his foot. "It wasn't! What would I be doing on the roof, anyway? Mom took my key with her to the Bermuda Triangle!"

"It's the _Bahamas, _you idiot," Blythe corrected.

Leroy glared at her. "I'm leaving now. Buh-bye," he said, stomping up the stairwell, each step echoing maddeningly loud.

"Bye!" Cat yelled.

Lydia directed her attention at the gang. "I'm really sorry. I have no idea who or what it was, it was probably just the wind, it's really windy out."

Defeated, as they realized they weren't going to get an answer as to what it was, the gang climbed the stone staircase up to the fourth floor.

"It doesn't add up. The wind can't make footsteps!" Beck said.

"I bet it was that Leroy brat, he was stomping up the stairs, so I bet he was stomping on the roof and lying about it," Jade scoffed. "I'm never having kids."

As they reached the top floor, they stopped cold.

Unmistakably, they had heard an ominous giggle.


	4. Cat's Favorite Novel

**I'm terribly sorry for the wait! This chapter is dedicated to Fairytale Love and Chocolate, Sylkia, joyce2474, CutesyBunny, you-make-me-go-asdfghjkl, Fangirl-Of-Awesome, DaryCandy, Jeremy Shane, Caralynne, PerfectlyImperfectGirl, Red Velvet is love, k drama queen, and what do u need me 4! You're all so sweet!**

* * *

_This door is unlocked by the imagination, inside it is another dimension._

_A land of sight, sound, and mind…_

_…Of things and ideas._

_A word beyond our own._

_You've just stumbled into…_

_The Twilight zone._

_*television static*_

* * *

"Did…did you guys hear that?" Tori asked nervously.

"It was probably just Leroy," Beck reassured, even though he wasn't confident that it really had been.

"That sounded like a girl, though," Andre said.

"Was it you, Kitty Cat? It sounded like you," Robbie asked Cat.

Cat shook her head.

"You know what, guys? It's late and we're tired. It was probably just a stair squeaking or something," Beck said.

The gang nodded. Maybe they were just jumping to ridiculous conclusions.

Even so, they walked uneasily down the hallway, and when they got to their room, they locked the door.

They tried to forget about Tori seeing Cat, the footsteps on the roof, and tried to concentrate only on how fun their road trip would be - _after _they left the Black Pine Manor once and for all – as they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

They awoke to someone yelling so loudly in the lobby that they could hear it all the way on the fourth floor.

"This ISN'T happening!" a girl shrieked. It took a moment before they realized it was just Blythe, her voice accompanied by eerie whistles. Even though they knew it was just because of her tooth gap, it added such a creepy element to her voice; when she yelled it sounded almost like the ghost of her voice.

"That girl better stop yelling or I'll make her stop," Jade grumbled, sitting up in bed.

The other guests, as few and far between as they were, must have agreed, because all over the hotel, footsteps and voices could be heard.

The shocked voices of other guests could be heard resounding around the hotel as well.

"I guess we should go see what it is," Tori said, reluctantly climbing out of bed.

The boys must have had the same idea, because they were coming out of their bedroom at the same time, and the group walked down to the lobby together.

It seemed that every guest was in the lobby, from the senior citizens to the man who blamed Cat for splashing water on him to the guests they hadn't even known were there. Everyone was crowded around the front entry way.

Unbelievably, there was snow up to people's foreheads piled in front of it.

"We're in Utah, and it's April. Is this even possible?" Andre asked.

"Do you realize what this means? We're trapped here," Jade said.

And it did. No one could leave – the snow was too high to climb over and the locks were frozen shut.

"Are there any other exits?" a middle-aged woman asked Blythe.

"There's a back door, but that one has snow up to the top, too," Blythe answered.

"Guys, maybe the footsteps we heard was just snow falling," Robbie suggested.

"But when we were here last night, there wasn't any snow," Cat reminded him.

And it was true. When they had come to the lobby to complain about the footsteps, there hadn't been so much as a single snowflake or flurry. The snow had appeared so quickly; there was no natural way that this much snow could appear in less than 6 hours.

"But what about – oh my gosh, look over there!" Tori started, interrupting herself and pointing at the other side of the room.

Sitting in an old fashioned arm chair covered in grime, holding a well-loved copy of a novel called _A Cold Day in Spring_, was Cat.

She was sitting dead still, not even blinking. She wasn't even glancing at her book. She was staring directly ahead of her, at nothing in particular.

There was no denying it – that girl was Cat, but in a way that was so creepy it wasn't even funny. Her brown eyes didn't twinkle like Cat's; instead, they were flat and looked almost painted on her too-pale skin. Creepiest of all, there was something about her that nearly blended in with her chair, the book, and the wall. Only her smile had made Tori even notice that she was there.

Her peculiar grin was etched on her face that could rival the Cheshire cat's.

The gang looked back and forth wildly between Cat and the girl in the chair. Cat looked as if someone had smacked her and she was just staring in shocked silence.

"Everybody calm down. Haven't you ever heard that 5 people, on average, look very similar to you?" Robbie said.

"Yeah, but her _hair…_don't you think it's a bit of coincidence that this girl also dyed her hair the same color? And they're wearing similar clothing?" Andre said.

"Cat…isn't your favorite book called _A Cold Day in Spring?_"

Cat nodded, wide-eyed. "It looks just like that, too. The corner of the cover is missing and everything."

"We should go talk to her," Beck said, and they slowly approached her.

The girl's eyes snapped in their direction as they got within ten feet of her. Her grin seemed to widen. She stood up, dropped the book, and walked quickly out of the lobby into the dining room.

The sound of glass breaking could be heard in the distance.


	5. A Song to Pass the Time

**It's been a long time. Waaaay too long. I don't really have an excuse, so I'll just leave it at the fact that I'm sorry, and this chapter is dedicated to Jet Engine, RedVelvet2169, Arianator132, AshBenzoPLL, Just-a-little-girl-who-writes, PabuLuverr, LittleMissMexx, Jeremy Shane, Sylkia Whacamolia, and Fairytale Love and Chocolate.**

* * *

_This door is unlocked by the imagination, inside it is another dimension._

_A land of sight, sound, and mind…_

_…Of things and ideas._

_A word beyond our own._

_You've just stumbled into…_

_The Twilight zone._

_*television static*_

* * *

Nearly everyone in the lobby rushed into the dining room, where Leroy had been setting the table for breakfast. It was a pretty small dining room and with thirty people crowded into it, there was barely any space to move.

(Tori was alarmed at the amount of guests. She was sure the man who they'd run into when they first checked in had said there were less than ten people occupying the manor.)

"Why is he setting the table? Doesn't anyone work here besides these three people and their parents? Isn't that child labor, anyway?" Jade whispered out of the side of her mouth.

And, in truth, it was a valid question. The gang had not seen so much as a cleaning person. You could chalk it up to the fact that they'd only been at the manor a short while, but everything about this manor seemed odd.

Leroy had apparently been holding a china plate and a glass, but they were shattered at his feet.

"That girl just ran in here and shoved past me!" he exclaimed, pointing at Cat, "She knocked this stuff out of my hands – Mom's gonna kill me for breaking that plate, it's part of some stupid fancy set – "

"It couldn't have been Cat," Beck interrupted, "We were with her the whole time."

The sentence "we were with her the whole time" seemed to be a reoccurring theme.

"We saw another girl with hair like Cat's run in here a few minutes ago, I think that's who you're talking about."

Surprisingly, the man who had the water poured on him shoved to the front of the crowd. "Really?" he asked sarcastically, "Was that the girl who threw water on me?"

Blythe pushed to the front. "I can assure you, you're the only girl here with bright red hair," she said to Cat. Leroy glanced at the mess at his feet and glared at Cat accusingly.

"I'd ask your little party to leave, but considering I don't think any of us are leaving today, I just ask that you stay out of trouble," Lydia supplied from somewhere in the crowd.

The guests scowled at Cat, but everyone started to disperse.

Cat didn't understand what had happened. She knew she hadn't thrown water on the man, cut up Jade's shirt, or knocked over Leroy's plate and glass. She wasn't bad; she didn't do things like that.

"Tori, you know I didn't cut up Jade's – "

With a snap, every light went out.

* * *

It was obviously the snow that had put out the lights. Blythe had been able to locate exactly one flashlight in the front desk, and used it to direct everyone to their rooms in the dark.

The gang actually had a nice time during the day, as nice of time you can have when you're stuck at the Black Pine Manor. Cat had brought along Apples to Apples, and the gang had spent most of the day playing that and listening to music off a portable radio Andre had brought.

The gang had tried to listen to music off their Pear Phones, but to their surprise, only Robbie had any power, and his only song was a compilation of ragtime songs. No one knew why their phones were dead – they'd had full charge the night before. Much to their annoyance, Robbie still had not bought a service plan, and could not call anybody.

The problem was nighttime.

Lydia had offered to let everyone stay this night free, since no one could leave. The gang had not planned on staying an extra night and were not exactly keen on staying another night.

("At least no one is running around on the roof tonight," Jade had grumbled.)

The teens were bored. They'd played too many games of Apples to Apples for it to be fun anymore, and because it was too dark to actually see each other, all they were doing was listening to the same radio station play the same few songs that were currently popular over and over again.

The radio's batteries died. Andre sighed. "I knew I should've changed them."

"What do we do now?" Robbie asked.

"I can go down to the front desk and see if they have any batteries down there," Cat offered, getting up and leaving the suite.

The gang talked about miscellaneous things until they heard the door click open again.

"They didn't have any, but I have an idea! Let's tell stories!" Car said excitedly. "I want to go first, my story is a song!"

The rest of the group made general sounds of a agreement. Tori didn't know what kind of stories Cat had been talking about, the song Cat started to sing was the last thing Tori could've ever expected.

Her voice was higher than usual, almost a screech, but it was eerily quiet, and she sang:

_"I am the one who haunts your sleep;_

_I've come to steal your favorite dreams,_

_I hide in the shadows of the weak,_

_I'll take your soul to keep..."_

"Cat! What the hell is that?" Jade demanded to know.

"Kitty Cat? Are you alright?" Robbie asked, alarmed.

Cat continued:

"_I tell manipulative lies,_

_I've done no good on my whole life,_

_And then I'll blame you for my crime,_

_I am an evil mastermind.."_

"What are doing with your voice?" Tori asked, alarmed at the squeak. Cat already had a high voice; when it was like this it was just disturbing.

Cat didn't listen to the question.

_"I am the source of all your tears;_

_I took the one who you hold dear,_

_The one you love the most sincere,_

_I am the one who you should fear..."_

"Cat!" everyone exclaimed at once.

"Yes?"

This voice did not belong to Cat. This was the voice that sang the song.

Beck grabbed Robbie's phone and shone the light from its screen onto Cat.

This was not Cat.

This was the girl with the smile, the girl with the vacant eyes. The girl from the armchair. The Cat lookalike.

She still had her too-wide grin, but her eyes no longer looked vacant and flat. They looked pointed and dangerous.

"Where...you're not...Where's Cat?!" Tori screamed.

"I am Caterina."

"No, you're not!"

The girl grinned. "I think you should be more concerned with the contents of your suitcase, Victoria," she said, her voice still that terrible quiet screech. Before any could say anything, she quickly got up and opened the door, stepping into the hallway and quietly clicking the door behind her.

The gang scrambled up from their seats and opened the door to find the hallway empty.

They heard footsteps come up the stairs at end of the hallway.

"Guys? I brought new batteries," Cat's voice said, the real Cat. She was wearing her purple pajamas with cupcakes on them and was clutching her beloved stuffed giraffe as she padded into view, which was a contrast to what the lookalike had been wearing. She'd been dressed in day clothes and had her hair done, although Cat's hair was gathered messily into a bun.

"Cat! Where were you?!" Tori asked.

"I was in line at the front desk. There was this old guy in front of me, he was so cute!" she said with a giggle. "I love old people."

"Do you happen to know a song that starts with the line, 'I am the one who haunts your sleep'?" Robbie asked.

Cat furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. "That sounds like a scary song."

"Cat, remember the girl from the lobby? With your book?" Tori asked. Cat nodded.

"We think she was just here, and she's impersonating you."

"Wait! Didn't she say you should be consented with what was in your suitcase, Tori?" Beck reminded.

Tori's eyes widened. The group rushed back into the suite and Tori's hands were flying as she opened her suitcase.

Empty.

Not a single article of clothing, not her phone, not even a tube of mascara.

"What is going on?" she demanded to know in a clipped tone.

"This can't just be some girl who looks exactly like Cat. She knows Cat's full name, and Tori's. Plus she dresses exactly like Cat and reads her favorite book...it's too coincidental," Andre said.

The idea that this was more than just a mischievous lookalike wasn't at all comforting to Cat.

"This reminds me of story someone told me at camp once...they swore it was true. It was about these evil...beings, I don't remember what they're called, and they look just like somebody and do bad things pretending to be them," Beck said, He wracked his brain, searching for the name of the entity.

"Doppelgängers," Robbie said at once. "That's what they're called. They're considered to be a paranormal double of someone, although it's supposedly described as seeing yourself out of your peripheral vision or something when there's no mirror around, not seeing yourself head-on in a chair. It's just a myth, though..."

"I've heard of those," Jade said. "I think they're supposed to be omens, or something."

"Yeah," Robbie confirmed. "I think if your family or friends see your doppelgänger it's a sign or danger or disease, but if you see your own, it's supposedly a death omen."

Cat's breath caught in her throat.


End file.
